By @BGinKC

I have known Mike Sharp for years. I got to know him very well back in the “murder summer” of 2004, and the interactions I had with him back then were enough to earn my support four years ago when he announced his candidacy.

Back when I got to know Mike, I was a shift supervisor at Research Medical Center and he was a homicide detective. When our gunshot traumas didn’t survive, the Medical Examiner and homicide unit would come and collect the labs and forensic evidence that was collected in the trauma bay. It was grim detail and no one got their jollies doing it, but interacting with Mike was what passed for a highlight those nights.

In the four years Mike Sharp has been Sheriff of Jackson County, he has served our community with honor and distinction. He has aggressively kept track of sex offenders and made sure their residencies are known and that they remain in compliance with their post-incarcerations obligations. That is important to the safety of our families and communities.

But more importantly, he has done more than any leader of any law enforcement agency anywhere to foster cooperation between agencies. As a retired KC police detective, he has ties to the largest police department in the county, and those ties go a long ways toward fostering cooperation in and of  themselves, but his cooperative nature isn’t limited to just the KCPD. It extends to the small agencies like Oak Grove and Lone Jack, and the federal agencies as well.

In my job I worked closely with law enforcement agencies at every level, from collecting blood samples from suspected drunk drivers for the police in small municipalities to DNA evidence that ended up as evidence in federal prosecutions. I know first-hand how difficult navigating cooperative relationships between agencies can be, and in over twenty years on the job, I have never witnessed anyone who does that better than Mike Sharp.

Therefore, for the reasons I have listed, and many, many more, I am breaking with tradition here at Show Me Progress and making an endorsement in the primary. When you go to the polls next Tuesday, request a Democratic ballot and vote to retain Mike Sharp as our Sheriff.